This is a fairly embarrassing issue to discuss, even over an anonymous message board, but here goes. I am a healthy, 25 year old male, with a wife, a three year old son & over the last few weeks I have developed a fairly intense fear of zombies. This is not a joke. It started after seeing the movie "I Am Legend," and since then it has grown to significantly interfere with my life in the following ways:

-It takes time to mentally "prepare" myself to go into the basement to do laundry, especially at night.
-It is very difficult for me to take showers, as I feel very vulnerable to an attack while washing my hair/face.
-It takes a great deal of courage to go outside by myself at night to do routine tasks like take out the garbage, salt the driveway, etc.
-When I am alone (or with only my son), I am pretty much always aware of the possibility of an attack.

I am always, 100% of time, aware of the fact that this behavior is ridiculous and that there is absolutely no way that there are zombies trying to attack me, yet the fear & anxiety persists. It is always the specific creatures in the movie that I am occupied with, not a general sense of paranoia/fear. I have never had this problem or anything close to it before & I have no prior history of mental disease. I do not use drugs other than alcohol in moderation. What the hell is going on here? I am 25 and afraid of nocturnal, flesh eating zombies I saw in a movie! I have to laugh at myself writing this, but it is a relatively serious impedance in my life right now. Anyone have any experience or ideas about this? No insurance btw, so seeing a professional is out of the question for now. I'm kind of hoping it just fades away.

It is not zombies. It is something else. You are literate, highly intelligent, an excellent communicator. You have a family, but no health insurance. Any chance the circumstances leading to this situation have prompted a background anxiety which has simply used the zombie as a psychological token?

It is not zombies. It is something else. You are literate, highly intelligent, an excellent communicator. You have a family, but no health insurance. Any chance the circumstances leading to this situation have prompted a background anxiety which has simply used the zombie as a psychological token?

My life *has* changed fairly dramatically in the last few months, but it has not produced much extraneous anxiety. We relocated a few hours away for my wife's career and I am at home with my son right now (although looking for a job currently). The insurance thing is only temporary for me until I find a job, but my wife & son have good insurance, so it doesn't really bother me much.

I agree that the zombies (god, I *have* to laugh out loud every time I actually write that!) are not the problem here, rather a manifestation of a deeper issue, but nothing pops right out at me. I will continue to meditate on it and hope to hear some more comments from those reading this. Thanks for the ideas.

My life *has* changed fairly dramatically in the last few months, but it has not produced much extraneous anxiety. We relocated a few hours away for my wife's career and I am at home with my son right now (although looking for a job currently). The insurance thing is only temporary for me until I find a job, but my wife & son have good insurance, so it doesn't really bother me much.

I agree that the zombies (god, I *have* to laugh out loud every time I actually write that!) are not the problem here, rather a manifestation of a deeper issue, but nothing pops right out at me. I will continue to meditate on it and hope to hear some more comments from those reading this. Thanks for the ideas.

This is a fairly embarrassing issue to discuss, even over an anonymous message board, but here goes. I am a healthy, 25 year old male, with a wife, a three year old son & over the last few weeks I have developed a fairly intense fear of zombies. This is not a joke. It started after seeing the movie "I Am Legend," and since then it has grown to significantly interfere with my life in the following ways:

-It takes time to mentally "prepare" myself to go into the basement to do laundry, especially at night.
-It is very difficult for me to take showers, as I feel very vulnerable to an attack while washing my hair/face.
-It takes a great deal of courage to go outside by myself at night to do routine tasks like take out the garbage, salt the driveway, etc.
-When I am alone (or with only my son), I am pretty much always aware of the possibility of an attack.

I am always, 100% of time, aware of the fact that this behavior is ridiculous and that there is absolutely no way that there are zombies trying to attack me, yet the fear & anxiety persists. It is always the specific creatures in the movie that I am occupied with, not a general sense of paranoia/fear. I have never had this problem or anything close to it before & I have no prior history of mental disease. I do not use drugs other than alcohol in moderation. What the hell is going on here? I am 25 and afraid of nocturnal, flesh eating zombies I saw in a movie! I have to laugh at myself writing this, but it is a relatively serious impedance in my life right now. Anyone have any experience or ideas about this? No insurance btw, so seeing a professional is out of the question for now. I'm kind of hoping it just fades away.

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